F.A.I.T.H. – Forsaking All, I Trust Him

What a powerful statement, one that is packed with truth, yet one that is not easy to accomplish. I was reminded several years ago of the need for faith as I saw a picture from New Orleans of a car with a bumper sticker that had the word faith in bold letters written on it, and right below the bottom of the sticker was about 4 and a half feet of water. The need for faith for those affected by Katrina was huge. But how do you have faith when all is lost? How do you have faith when there is not even the smallest glimmer of hope from the way that your present circumstances look?

True faith is indeed forsaking everything else and trusting completely in God, however, there is another requirement of faith that we must commit to. The disciples had to completely trust Jesus to feed the 5, 000, but they also had to pick up the baskets that were once empty, walk around and by faith begin feeding the people. Earlier in their ministry they had to have faith that Jesus could turn the water into wine, but they also had to pick up the containers and have faith that every cup of “water” would now be wine. Peter knew that he could completely trust Jesus to save him from drowning, but he had to step out of the boat and begin walking on the water. Noah had to completely trust God, because he had never seen this thing called rain, and he knew that God would deliver him, but he had to pick up the hammer and begin building the ark.

Faith requires complete trust, believing that even though you don’t see it now, that it is as well as done. But it also requires as some one has said that, “we are to pray as if everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on us.” We work believing that every action, every step is ordered by God to accomplish what will bring Him the most honor and glory. Abraham knew and believed that God would make him be the father of many nations, but that morning as he woke up to walk Isaac up to the mountain to kill him, his circumstances spoke everything but that. But forsaking all, he trusted God and he woke up early in the morning and went to the mountain to do business with God.

What are you trusting God for today? Where is faith an issue in your life? Is it your health, your job, your finances, your relationships, weight loss, etc? Lay down your doubts and fears and apprehensions and trust in the One who is not seen and ask Him to order every step you take to please Him as you await your miracle.

“…being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.”

Hebrew 11:1

Forgiven the Greatest, Loves the Most

“He, who is forgiven the greatest, loves the most.”
(See Luke 7:41-43)

I’ve always been intrigued by the story of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. Think about it; here’s a man who owed his master a huge amount of money, more than he probably could have ever paid off. Pleading for mercy, he went to his master and was granted forgiveness of the debt that he owed. Afterwards, instead of humbly living a life that was filled with an attitude of gratitude that extended to others, he went and found someone who owed him relatively little compared with what he’d been forgiven of and treated his friend harshly. Unbelievable! Or is it?

As I write this, I’m aware of the depth of gratitude I owe because of the sins that God has forgiven me for. My debt is huge, but by His grace, love and mercy, I’ve repented, asked for forgiveness, begged for mercy and have been forgiven. Hallelujah! However, at times when I’ve been wronged I’ve gotten angry, held grudges and let it be known that it was not going to be easy for me to forgive or forget what the person had done. Even after God had “forgiven my sin and cleansed me from all righteousness” and had “cast my sin as far as the east is from the west” and “remembered my sin no more”, I still had trouble forgiving.

In light of my being forgiven greatly, I should always forgive greatly. Anyone who has any idea of the magnitude of their sin against God, after having been forgiven should by the power of the Spirit be the greatest forgivers.

In addition to this there are times we must also seek forgiveness. However, there are times we seek forgiveness from others so that our circumstance will change and we’ll feel better. Seeking forgiveness from God paves the way for the changes to occur in us first and then by God’s grace our circumstances will follow through a journey of repentance, reconciliation and restoration, all of which begin with God first.

The next time you find it hard to forgive go back and read about the cross of Christ (Isaiah 53:5) and realize it was for you that died. Realizing that should help us in our decisions to forgive our offenders.

The Cost Of Worship

David was following the Lord’s command to build an altar to the Lord on Araunah’s threshing floor. Araunah, seeing that this was the King requesting use of his threshing floor, insisted that David use it without cost. Araunah even offered to provide the sacrifice and the tools.

However, David realizes the importance of the sacrifice and replied, “No, I insist on buying it, for I cannot present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:24)

Worship is work, it is sacrifice, and it is costly. We should not enter into His presence without first preparing and expect to have a meaningful, intimate worship time. Worship takes preparation; preparing our hearts, spending time alone with God during the week, talking with Him and listening to Him. Worship also demands sacrifice. As we see in Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.” (NIV)

We must be willing to sacrifice our “rights”, our wants, our desires, in order to allow God’s will to be accomplished. Worship takes time and effort as does anything that truly has worth.

What did your “offering” of worship cost you this week? Did you have to die to yourself? Obeying God rather than your own will? The daily discipline of preparation for worship is work, and is often difficult. Are we willing to do what it takes to give God His due in our worship; or do we walk in rushed, unprepared, unfocused, having not spent any quality time with Him at all this week?

Beginning Wednesday February 10^th and continuing through Easter Sunday, April 4^th the season of Lent will be taking place. Lent is the time of preparation for Easter. During this time, as we remember Christ’s sacrifice for us we are encouraged to do likewise and sacrifice something in our lives that we are attached to. As we do this, it helps us to better recognize our dependence on those things and frees us from that dependence so that we can better focus on our dependence on Him and His control of and in our lives. This year our senior staff is committing to “let go” of at least one thing during this time and we want to encourage you to do the same. It won’t be easy, but that’s why it’s called sacrifice.

As an act of bowing in reverence before our great God, let’s purpose in our hearts that we will give our best to the Master, day in and day out, and say like David, “I will not present to the Lord that which costs me nothing.”

With you on the journey,

Pastor MJ